Hi everyone. My DS's daytime naps are going out of the window. He is 15 weeks tomorrow. He's always been a rubbish napper, but, through much effort, since about 10-11 weeks I was guaranteed to be able to put him down for three 45-min naps a day. It did require an elaborate setting (cot, swaddling, darkened room, rather loud radio white noise, often humming from me, but he did self-settle about 1/2 of the time), but it worked. One nap of the three was in the sling outside. Now, however, in the past week he's become very difficult to put to nap - 20-30 min for a 45-min nap! Lots of whingeing and often crying. And today I was not able to put him down for his morning nap for this first time in weeks. And this was our easiest nap! Could this be an early 4-month sleep regression?
Some potentially important factors:
- He learned to turn over onto his tummy about a week ago. He also started actively grabbing at toys and sticking them into his mouth.
- I am trying to wean him off swaddling as I am afraid that he will flip on his tummy and get stuck with his face down. He can turn on his side when swaddled. About 10 days ago I started putting him in a sleeping bag for morning nap. He can nap in it, but it does take a bit more effort.
- He stopped displaying clear sleepy signs. Before he would yawn almost exactly 1.5 hrs after waking. Now he does not yawn unless already in cot. He just gets grumpy, but I am not sure if he is sleepy or bored. I tried putting him to nap later than 1.5 hrs, but this does not make any difference.
- While we have a pretty constant wake up time and regular bedtime, we do not have a daytime schedule. I just always put him to nap when he appeared sleepy and fed him when he appeared hungry. The length of his naps is irregular - can sometimes be 1.5 hrs, but usually 45 min and only 20 min in the car. He feeds every 2-3 hrs. Should I try for a schedule?
Will be grateful for any transfer of knowledge!